Free Craved by Stephanie Nelson Page A

so beautiful, they made royalty
jealous.
    Looking at him, most would assume he
were gay. He’s not, just metro sexual. He once said that the reason
he was so good at what he did was because he appreciated the female
body so much. It made me blush at the time, but maybe he had a
point.
    “The only beauty I see is before me,”
Andy said. He could smooth talk practically anyone out of their
panties. Except me.
    We had gone on a date once and,
although he’s beautiful and charming, I could see right through his
web of charisma. I’m convinced that the phrase player was
specifically named after him.
    “I’m here to pick up Fiona’s dress,” I
told him, ignoring his compliment.
    “Of course,” he said with a head nod.
Andy went into the back of the store to retrieve Fiona’s dress
while I walked through the maze of lifelike mannequins, running my
fingertips along the exquisite fabric.
    My phone rang, echoing Paramore’s
“Heart” through the empty store.
    “Hello?”
    “Don’t forget to pick up my dress,”
Fiona’s overly excited voice said.
    “On it.”
    “Awesome! Now maybe you can tell me
why Micah is standing in our kitchen waiting for you?”
    I bit my lip at her displeased tone.
“There is someone in Hemlock we need to talk to who might have
known Amy Harper.”
    Silence.
    “I told him I’d contact the guy
myself, but he insists on coming along. Plus we think Rush might
serve…might hold some answers to our many questions.”
    I shook my head at the near miss of
mentioning brew, but luckily Fiona hadn’t caught it.
    “How are we supposed to have fun with
an uptight Micah acting as a third wheel?” Her voice was on the
verge of being whiney.
    “We’ll investigate and then
you and I will have some drinks and dance. Micah will just have to
deal with it.” A thought occurred to me, what were we going to do with Fiona while we were
investigating? We couldn’t leave her alone
in the club. I gritted my teeth because I knew of one way to keep
her safe while Micah and I were questioning Anthony, but I doubted
she would like it.
    “Um, Fiona, I think Aiden should go
with us too.”
    She released an irritated sigh and
said, “Why don’t all of your love interests come, geez,
Gwen.”
    “Witches are being murdered, Fiona, I
think that’s more important than shaking our asses to Beyonce.
Aiden needs to come so that you’re not left alone while Micah and I
question the guy,” I spat out; annoyed that she was being so
difficult.
    “Fine, but you’re buying my drinks all
night to make it up to me,” she compromised and then I heard the
click of the call ending. I flipped my phone shut with a little
more pressure than I meant to. I hoped that Fiona’s date with Liam
would go really well tomorrow night, that girl needed a
distraction.
    “Here it is,” Andy said holding out a
white garment bag.
    “Thank you,” I said as I grabbed the
bag. “’Night Andy.”
    I wanted to just throw her dress into
the back of my Jeep but that would be immature, so I carefully laid
it across the backseat and headed for home.
    I flipped my cell phone open and
dialed Aiden; he would’ve been awake for an hour now.
    “Yes, my Gwen?
    I felt slightly embarrassed about what
had happened between us the night before but not enough to let it
bother me. He was gorgeous and I was single, so we hadn’t done
anything wrong.
    “Are you busy tonight?”
    “Oh, are you planning our first
official date?”
    “No, I’m going to Hemlock tonight with
Fiona and Micah. I wanted to know if you’d do me a
favor.”
    “Ah yes, how could I forget
that you’ll be with Micah tonight. What is this favor, my Gwen?” he asked, his
voice only slightly annoyed.
    “I need you to come with us so that
Fiona won’t be alone while we question someone.”
    “So you want me to baby-sit while you
go off with your ex?”
    I cringed, not because he sounded mad,
but because what I was asking sounded really bad. I was one hundred
percent sure I